Three arrested after shock-call fraud in Olching and Germering
Three suspects were arrested following a confidence fraud in Olching. A further elderly woman in Germering was warned in time.
Police apprehend collectors after fake police officer scam
Police arrested three suspected con artists in Fürstenfeldbruck district on Tuesday morning, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The starting point was a call to an elderly couple in Olching: an unknown man posed as a police officer and pressured the pensioners to deposit jewellery in a flowerpot in front of their house.
The handover failed. The couple noticed a suspicious person at the property who disappeared again without the goods. They then contacted the real police, who immediately launched a search.
Shortly afterwards, officers stopped a vehicle in Bergkirchen with three occupants: a 14-year-old, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old. The three men were quickly shown to have been involved in the fraud attempt. They were apparently deployed as collectors—a common division of labour in which the callers themselves avoid the risk of arrest during the handover.
In the course of the investigation, it also emerged that a further fraud attempt was taking place at the same time in Germering. There too, an alleged police officer called a pensioner. When the real officers arrived, the woman was still on the phone with the fraudsters and was able to be warned in time.
On the application of the public prosecutor's office, the 17-year-old and 19-year-old Syrians were brought before a judge on Wednesday and subsequently taken to correctional facilities. The 14-year-old German-Beninese was placed in the care of the youth welfare office.
The criminal police in Fürstenfeldbruck are conducting further investigations under the direction of the Munich II public prosecutor's office.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung